Slashdot Mirror
Do You Like Your Job?
G-shock asks: "I've worked for the government (NASA), large public companies, and small startups as a software engineer. They all have something in common. It seems like management at this company is just winging it. I find myself putting all my energy, both mental and emotional, into a project only to be disappointed by decisions made by management. I really feel like management at my current employer is disconnected from what is actually going on. They manage a project, but not the people. They also seem to lack any real vision. Direction is constantly changing and proper time is not given to engineer these changes correctly. This leads to mandated quick and dirty solutions that end up being maintained with great pain for long periods of time. All this leads to me feeling cynical about the work I'm doing. What I want to know is, how can I feel good about the work I'm doing if I don't have confidence in my management? How many of you are happy with your management? Why? Why not? What can I do about this? Thanks in advance for your insight." Considering that this seems to be a common problem in technology companies, and seeing as we have been producing software for basically half a century, do you think that managing software projects is a different beast than the management of anything else? How many of you have had this problem in your career and what did you do to adjust?
i just got fired monday. they wanted a mission critical piece of an application. it was a protocol gateway, and one of the protocols was totally undocumented. i told them six weeks at best. they told me three i said no, they said you're fired.
so, yes, somtimes they are crazy, and *you* need to decide if you want to be absorbed into the madness or retain your sanity. and the outcome aint always pretty. you got to decide what its worth.
four-oh-four
... at this point, I wish I had a job.
Less Talk, More Beer.
because they understand what is needed.
When I started at my current job, I was not sure what to expect, being under the assumption that management knows nothing. But later finding out that most of the management here has done some programming before. In fact one of the main managers was the only programmer here when the business started up.
I believe this makes for the best workplace as a programmer because everyone above you knows how you are feeling. What to expect from you. What is hard/easy etc.
Atleast that's my view on it anyways.
Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. -- Homer J. Simpson
I worked at .Bombs .Coms and .Profitable Motor Companies and a lot of other places as everything from Technical contractor to a "Scientist" to Director of New Business... I now work at a non profit and I have to say I never felt better. I hate the tedium of some of the stuff I do but everyone seems to care here. As soon as you take good old fashion $$$$ from the equation (I still get paid, just not at market rate), everything seems to work better. Human Service organizations are just great to work at mainly because getting a project done has something very visual and positive in its outcome... just my few cents (literally)
That seems to be why many professional programmers work on open source projects. You get to spread your technical wings without managers.
It's not the rant you think.
When I was young, I looked down on politics, figured I didn't need to deal with it, etc.
By the time I finally started to understand it, most of my working life was gone.
The thing to know is that politics is more than a game: it is the essence of working with and through other people to get things done. You don't have to become Machiavelli and you don't have to stab backs. Learning what people -- even managers -- cherish, and understanding the real power subordinates have over their bosses will lead to a lot more "wins" and a lot more sensible decisions than doing the typical "I don't care about politics" schtick.
What's sad is that we don't have to be as good at it as the managers are, though some of us do have tremendous potential.
We just have to be smart enough to listen and get listened to.
Techies will never win them all, or even all of the ones we should. Nice to win some, though.
There's a skill you must have to enjoy investing yourself in a complicated, demanding, intellectual job - and I wish I had advice for developing this skill, but I don't - you have to be able to tell who's a competent, visionary administrator (yes, such people do exist, god bless them) and who is, to be frank, an idiot (lots of those, as I'm sure you've all noticed.)
So, before you take a job, go and meet the management. Even if it means taking a pay cut, my advice is to work for smart people, and enjoy your work.
If you don't have the luxury (I'm a computational biologist, so I do) of choosing your employer / PI (that's what a scientist's boss is called) / project manager / what have you, then, well, you can't expect to be happy at your job. Most people are in the position of taking whatever job they can get, and they're unhappy with what they end up with. So, if you're one of the few people with the luxury of choosing where to work, get your priorities straight and at least consider the competence (to say nothing of worthiness) of the prospective co-workers, in addition to the economics.
I'm happy at my job, by the way.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
I've been working for myself since 1989.
I always found it incredibly difficult to suffer the incompetence of "managers" who, more often than not, get paid far too much money to do far too little work -- at least that's what I thought.
Since becoming self-employed however, I have a much greater respect for the time, effort and skill required to "manage" a business.
In fact, I've deliberately kept my own operations small whenever possible so as to avoid getting caught in the inevitable drift towards management that occurs when you start expanding and employing others. I'd rather remain down and dirty at the coalface.
One unfortunate side-effect of being self-employed in a fast-moving and highly competitive industry is that you can find yourself working 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I haven't had a vacation for over a decade and most years Christmas passed by almost without me noticing.
This type of thing is okay when you're young and you can survive on 4 hours sleep a night with a constant diet of Coke and pizza -- but I'm knocking on 50 now and it's getting bloody hard.
Sometimes I dream of retiring to become just another employee. Let someone else worry about paying my salary, keeping the overdraft topped up and filing endless government forms -- I'll just pop in for 8-9 hours a day and go fishing on the weekends.
If you're thinking of bitching about management, don't forget the old saying "never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes."
There are some real asshole managers out there -- but then again, there are also some real asshole employees.
If you're really ticked off -- break away and start your own corporation.
This only really applies to free software developers, but say you have a day job doing one thing, and by night (or weekend or what have you) you put time into a free programming project. Since you actually work two jobs, you could say either one is your "true" job.
It doesn't matter what your day job is. You could be a waiter or a pr0nstar or a programmer in a cubicle. If you enjoy your night job more, then consider that your true job. After all, your "job" is nothing more than simply doing your part in society. If you consider free software to be more of a calling than your day job, then so be it. It is even possible that your free software project is better for society. The downside is that it may not be the job that is bringing in the money, but it is your job nonetheless. Think about it this way: if you had to choose between losing your job or losing your free software project (the latter is sort of impossible, so lets just say that it disappears in a puff of smoke), which would you choose? Which is more important?
So before you tell your friend that your job sucks, or tell your uncle at the family party that you work at a dead-end computer job, why don't you say you work on free software instead? It's a much more enjoyable job, isn't it? It also reflects what you truly want to do, and because of the impact it makes, is a much better candidate to represent your place in society.
Anyway, I got into this discussion with one of my friends the other day. I am a free software developer, but I have not finished college, and my day job sucks. He said something along the lines of: "What do your parents think about this? Are they angry you have not aspired to more? What greater plans do you have?" And to that I answer: "Greater plans? I'm doing exactly what I want to do _right now_. How can it get any better? Maybe I can improve my day job, but my night job is where the fun is."
-Justin
Libral Arts graduates are not supposed to manage people, nor do they have the proper education to do so.
Computer Science graduates are not supposed to manage people, nor do they have the proper education to do so.
History graduates are not supposed to manage people, nor do they have the proper education to do so.
These are ridiculous generalizations that have absolutely no bearing in the "real world". Check out the backgrounds of the great corporate leaders of the last half-century. Read "Good to Great" or another book that describes their qualities.
Where they all "commerce graduates"? Was there an engineer in there? An arts grad? How did that happen? They weren't "supposed" to be there?
You are taking a deterministic approach that says the degree you choose when you are seventeen determines if you ever have the capacity to lead. How absurd.
< turn sarcastic voice on :-) >
.... many (most?) commerce grads make very poor managers especially in the tech industry. Being non-technical they have little appreciation for what really drives tech people (no, reading case studies does not count) and hence they have no real clue how to handle or motivate techies.
... which we all know as the PHB.
Typical of a commerce student to write screenful after screenful of text without getting to the point!
Let's put it simply: The best manager is someone who understands people, who understands the business, and who understands what happens in the business.
That's it - no other description or explanation required.
Now for the record
Worst, having read all these wonderful case studies, these commerce grads think they know how to handle tech people and just come across as these pompous arrogant know-it-alls
I was in your position about nine months ago. I had worked at a university for about 10 years, in IT. Dilbert applies there as much as it does anywhere. I was paid relatively well, but it wasn't enough to make up for the amazingly shallow human drama that our management was hellbent on creating. I felt that my soul was being siphoned out of my existence, one tedious day at a time.
After spending way too much time (years) pondering what to do, I quit. I gave them a generous notice, then left. I don't miss it and I feel like a relevant human being again.
Now that I've had time to reflect, I've come to believe that:
- while it is a noble and romantic notion, attempting to find meaning in one's IT work is really hard and potentially dangerous for your mental stability, because
- the IT work force is filled with people who occupy the middle of the bell curve and who just don't give a hoot.
If you want to make a difference in the world, don't figure on doing it through your employment. I think our generation has been brought up with the idea that the road to happiness is found by loving your work and doing work you love. That's a pretty picture, but the real world doesn't make that a goal that one can really achieve.Today's work place, probably any work place actually, it's like playing on your grade school class' PE kickball team. You don't have a team of the best players; you have a team with every player of every skill level and interest. What's the point of being concerned about the quality of your work when you're just one of a few people who could give a shit? Now, if you're playing on a team/working in a job where everyone wants to do their personal best, solving problems and kicking ass, it would be different (kind of like Star Trek...).
You asked how can you feel good about your work when you don't have confidence in management? That's the wrong question. How you feel about your work doesn't hinge on what you think of management? They're probably not qualified to really judge your work anyway. Your management is as smart as they're ever going to be. They're doing the best that they can. It may not be the best possible job; it probably isn't what you would do, if you were the manager. But that's not the point of the exercise. You're not supposed to do the best work that you're capable of; nor are you supposed to expect that management wants you to do this! Rarely is one rewarded for being smart or clever. Getting from point A to point B in the shortest or most efficient way? Not relevant.
You'll have a hell of a time changing the people in your work place. It's a lot easier to change yourself. If you think your management is clueless, they probably are. If it is important to you that you work with people who aren't clueless and actually share your values about work, you'll probably have to bail on this job eventually and seek out an employer who better fits your idea of reality. Or, you can change your own point of view about work. Yield and conquer. Let work be the place that supplies you with cash so that you can live life with people who actually care about the things that you do. It's definitely easier to find a group of people who'll share your passion about something outside of work than within it. Especially IT work.
I've learned that the best use for employment is as a spigot for cash to fuel a stylish, mysterious, and dangerous life. Fill a position, show up, cash the paycheck. Use the cash to go out and build a fulfilling life. Don't look for meaning or personal fulfillment at the work place. It's not there to be found.
I quit my soul-reaping IT job to write my own software, on my own terms. That makes me happy, but hasn't made me rich yet. I also started playing music and discovered a community of people that I really enjoy spending time, some of whom also equally share my passion. Now that's cool and fulfilling. That's the hokey-pokey. You probably won't find the hokey-pokey in the workplace. Work is work and life is something different. If I ever go back to employee situation again, especially in IT, I'm going to keep this foremost in mind.
Do the best work that the situation permits. You'll not be able to do any better and wasting cycles worrying about it is futile. It may not be spiritually satisfying, but you'll earn the same pay in any case. When the day's over, go off and live your real life.
What is it that you would do all day, in a perfect world?
I am quite happy with the work that I do (at the moment, seasonal work with the Forest Sevice as an archaeologist, when I get my Masters, hopefully I can get a full time position). I get paid to do what I would willingly do for free, or even pay to do. I love archaeology. I love the fresh air and miles of arch survey. I enjoy the little bit of excavation that I have the opportunity to partake in. I adore the people I have worked for. I take great pleasure in explaining why archaeology and historic preservation are important and dealing with the public.
Your claim that all jobs suck is a terrible generalization in the highest order. Perhaps the problem lies not in the job bering terrible, but in your ability to choose the field that you work in. I am honestly sorry that you do not enjoy the work that you have chosen to do. My feeling is that one should always to work that they enjoy. If the work is not pleasing to a person, then find something else to do and let some one who wants to do it, do it.
On the other hand, if you are in it for the money, or the power, or the reputation alone, then you have no right to complain. You want huge amounts of money? Fine, you are going to have to do something you don't like to sate your greed. Power? Again, you are going to have to do unpleasant things, or stop you quest for power. If your goal is simply to take pleasure in life, find a job that you actually like doing, no matter the pay (almost any professional field will pay a living wage, at the very least), then there is something that you can do in the world that will fufill those needs.
We live in a world of our own making. We have power over our actions and our own ability to take pleasure in anything that is put before us. Ultimatly, it is your choice to dislike where you work. However, you also have the ability to change that environment. You, much like the fox failing in his attempts to reach the sweet fruit of the grapes on a distant vine, complain without trying alternatives. You waste your time, and the time of all that have to hear your selfish complaining.
Unless you are willing to take responsibilty for you world, shut up and sit down.
Rhapsody in Numbers
Just as a side note, Japan has a nation-wide government run job database called Hello Work.
I know in the US "government-run" is synonymous with "piece of crap." Not so in this case. It is detailed and very very comprehensive.
Basically, it works like this: You find a job via the website or using the touchscreen terminals in the Hello Work offices, then print out the jobs you're interested in (up to five per day).
You then take the printouts to the office and give them to the people who work there, who then call the company for you and set up an interview with two of the companies you're interested in. Then they give you a card with your info and the company's info on it.
After the interview, you give the card to the company. The neat part is, if the company doesn't want you, they have to give a good reason why not. This is to help fight job discrimination (especially against women and people over 50).
I got my current job this way. It's a very pleasant experience, not degrading at all the way I remember it being in the US.
One company tried to turn me down flat for an interview because I was non-Japanese. The wonderful public servant who was trying to set up the interview for me (Mr. Ikejiri, God bless his soul) actually got angry with the guy and browbeat them into meeting with me. Of course I didn't take that job, but it was cool having someone in your corner.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
Now tell me again that programmers make good managers, and I will laugh in your general direction. The best managers I've had knew nothing about programming, but they knew how to ask the right questions (when will it be done, what do you need to do it faster, how can I help you achieve your goals) and leave the programming to the experts.
The interactive way to Go -- http://www.playgo.to/iwtg/en/
Absolutely right. I've worked with so many former programmers, analysts, DBAs, DAs etc...who are unable to make the transtion to managing people. Because they think of themselves as "artists", they have little time for or knowledge of process and very little in the way of project management skill. They whine and complain about their managers, when half the time they are part of the problem. The best situations I've worked in involve a true team, collaborative environment where the senior programmers/architects design the system and estimate their work effort, while managers track that work and block for the team - not allowing the business to railroad their efforts. Pure managers have their place on a project team, just as much as the technical folks....
You know, one of the best managers I ever had was "businessy." She had almost no computer knowledge whatsoever, aside from the ability to use e-mail and office applications. But here's the difference: She KNEW she was lacking in that area and relied on the opinions of her employees. When one of us told her that something couldn't be accomplished as the company wanted it, she took the time to ask questions and explore where the problem was. Then she would help us to consider ways of dealing with or eliminating the problem. Sometimes, that worked. When it didn't, she would tell the VP the truth -- it couldn't be done in the time requested. Up until that time, I always griped about how stupid managers were. She really opened my eyes.
The key learning is: Know thine own limits. You'll be much more successful in anything you do as long as you know your weaknesses.
GreyPoopon
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Why is it I can write insightful comments but can't come up with a clever signature?